When it comes to employee hiring then, rather than focusing on how to avoid making a bad hiring decision, use this winner’s mindset to your advantage and focus only on how you plan to hire great people.

Want to keep your top talent happily engaged and on board for the long term? Want to inspire your other employees to reach their full potential? It’s easy! All you have to do is show ’em that you care. Here’s another simple question you can ask several of your employees this week. You’ll garner some great information and your people will feel respected and valued. Win-win!

On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you be to recommend this
as a good place to work and why?

Want to keep your top talent happily engaged and on board for the long term? Want to inspire your other employees to reach their full potential? It’s easy! All you have to do is show ’em that you care. Here’s another simple question you can ask several of your employees this week. You’ll garner some great information and your people will feel respected and valued. Win-win!

If you could change one thing about your job (or our team, department, company), what would it be?

The following was recently published in the Seattle Times “Rant and Rave” column and I couldn’t say it better myself…

RANT: It takes two or three hours to write a specific cover letter, customize the resume, and go through all the ridiculous, dehumanizing, online hoops to apply for even a low-paying, part-time job, yet a business can’t spend one minute to send even a simple reply? Many applicants are your customers, you know. Or now former customers. This is your community, we’re your neighbors and you are rude.

“If you’re sharing a cab to the airport with a stranger, what happens if he’s two inches taller than you? Probably nothing. There’s nothing to distract or to cause discomfort. You make small talk.

What if he’s a little shorter than you? Or left handed? Perhaps he’s not from your town, but from Depew, about twenty miles away. Probably nothing to consider…

What if he has shoulder-length red hair?

At some point, most people reach a moment of discomfort. What if he’s seven feet tall? Will you mention it? Or if he’s under five feet? What if he’s from a different country? Or a different race or speaking with a significant accent (or, more accurately, an accent that’s different from yours)?

For as long as we’ve been keeping records, human beings have been on alert for the differences that divide us. Then we fixate on those differences, amplifying them, ascribing all sorts of irrelevant behaviors to them. Until, the next thing you know, we start referring to: “those people.”

It seems as though it’s a lot more productive to look for something in common. Attitudes and expectations. Beliefs in the common good and forward motion. A desire to make something that matters…

Because there’s always more in common than different.”

I would only add: And it’s something we need to be aware of during the employee selection process.

Want to keep your top talent happily engaged and on board for the long term? Want to inspire your other employees to reach their full potential? It’s easy! All you have to do is show ’em that you care. Here’s another simple question you can ask several of your employees this week. You’ll garner some great information and your people will feel respected and valued. Win-win!

In the spirit of “different strokes for different folks,” ask: What kind of recognition or appreciation would be meaningful to you? (Some employees prefer a private rather than public acknowledgement. Some would rather have paid time off rather than the best parking place for a month.)

Have you ever lost a great employee to another employer? Hurts, doesn’t it? And while that person probably told you they were leaving for more money, that’s rarely the case. More often the real reasons have to do with relationships, opportunities, and respect.

Here, then, are a few, simple steps you can take to prevent it from happening again:

Provide clearly defined growth opportunities.

Give them more responsibility and cross-training.

Provide them with a culture of accountably.

Pay for performance.

Whatever is scarce has value, so give them the gift of time. You can trust your top performers to use flex time wisely and honestly.

Only allow them to work with other winners because they rightfully resent slackers.

Seek out their opinions and ideas and ask for their thoughts/feedback before changing anything or starting something new.

Want to keep your top talent happily engaged and on board for the long term? Want to inspire your other employees to reach their full potential? It’s easy! All you have to do is show ’em that you care. Here’s another simple question you can ask several of your employees this week. You’ll garner some great information and your people will feel respected and valued. Win-win!

“Why have you stayed with us for as long as you have?” (Then use the most common answers as headlines in your recruitment ads. For instance, if several employees say something like: “Because of the flex time policy,” an ad could read: “Work When It Works Best for You.”)

A great time to look for the employees who could help you build your business next year is when you’re doing your holiday shopping this year because…

When you get outstanding service during the hectic holiday hustle, the person who helped you has already passed the customer service/positive attitude screening tests.

One of the #1 New Year’s resolutions made by working people every year is to find a new job. If you give promising people your business card, there is a good chance they might come your way.

Many of the store employees you’ll encounter are only working part-time to earn some extra money. Many won’t want a full-time job year round, but, if need be, you could collect names and contact info for when you have part-time, temporary openings.

When you approach someone you think you might like to hire, I would suggest you say you are looking for someone with the kind of customer service attitude they have and that, if they know someone else with an attitude like theirs, would they please have them call you. (You might even offer them a recruiting bonus if they give you their own name and number and tell the person they tell about the job to mention who asked them to call you.)

A SIDE NOTE: Also, make sure the great employees you have right now are happy so they won’t be looking for a new job in 2017.